© Blake Ezra (Courtesy Bevis Marks synagogue) Photography 2016.
The City of London has once again refused plans for a towering office block that would have overshadowed historic Bevis Marks synagogue.
In a vote last week, the City of London Planning Committee voted 14 to eight against approving the 43-storey Bury House project.
It was the second time the City rejected such a scheme.
The initial refusal came in 2021, for a 48-storey tower.
This, writes Building web site “prompted a series of design revisions including a height reduction of five storeys unveiled in March.”
The proposals have sparked a row at the City over the balance between promoting new development and protecting heritage sites and provoked 1,300 objections from members of the public.
Bevis Marks, a Grade I listed building, was built in 1701 and is administered by the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi Community. It is the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the UK.
Parallel to the high-rise issue, it has undergone renovation and development work aimed to expand and improve visitor experience. And just one year ago, the City of London’s Planning Committee voted unanimously to set up a Conservation Area around historic shul.
“Now that this totally inappropriate tower proposal has been rejected for the second time in two years, we urge the applicant to abandon this project in its current form and not to lodge an appeal,” the synagogue’s Rabbi Shalom Morris was quoted as saying by the Jewish Chronicle.
Read our post from 2021 about the original rejection of the high rise tower